this is from a guy at marlin...

Fellow Marlin Shooters,

Now I can talk freely about the new 308 Marlin Express.

The news release is now out on the joint venture of Marlin and Hornady's newest cartridge, the 308 MARLIN EXPRESS.

Ater reading a number of recent posts that hit the 'net today, I'll try to give you all some more facts.

The 308 Marlin Express is NOT interchangeable with the current (Nato) .308........The marlin 308 Express is an entirely NEW case and chamber design......However, The New 308 Marlin Express will slightly surpass the older, (never released in a Marlin), 307 performance.

The Billistics are similar to the current Nato 308, a 160 Gr. projectile @ approx 2650-2700 FPS...... The operating pressure will be in the range of 46,000-47,000 PSI, thanks to the technology and hard work from the guys at Hornady.....Someone stated they expect the performance to fall short......I DON'T THINK THAT WILL BE THE CASE!...The final loading is still being fine tuned by the technicians at Hornady, velocity and accuracy is VERY incouraging.

Answers to few questions I read in prior posts:

Will other (hand loaded) ammo be usable?.........Yes, the bore size is the same as the Marlin 30-30........1:10 ballard cut rifling, so other RN or FN bullets are handloadable. The larger case capacity of the 308 will benefit the handloader also.

Will other ammo manufacturers pick the 308 Marlin Express in their product line?
I expect that will happen, in time,......thats always been the case.

Can older Marlin 30-30's be safely rechambered to this new round?.....[b]NO!..... the receiver will be manufactured to tighter tolerances, using a Vee thread as the union between the barrel and the receiver, similar to the 450 Marlin.

Can standard pointed bullets be used in the 308 Marlin rifle? NO....There is NO safe way to use standard, metal pointed projectiles in a tubular magazine.

Will a 35 or some other bore size follow?..............NO........this is a NEW Marlin caliber in itself.

The Marlin Rifles:

The Marlin 308 Express will come in two flavors.

The 308MXLR will be an XLR Stainless Steel style rifle with a 24" barrel, pistol grip Grey/Black laminated stocks, with forarm cap and sling studs,and standard Marlin rubber non-vented rifle pad.

The 308MX will be a blued rifle with a 22" barrel, Walnut pistol grip stocks, with the Marlin rubber non-vented rifle pad and sling studs.

The Magazine Tubes on both rifles will be the 2/3's style, holding, 5 rounds. The mag tubes are standard style NOT sprial or helical.

Barrel Contour : Currently, the barrel contour will be that of the 30-30 and 30-30 XLR.....However testing is scheduled for other, heavier barrel contours, to optimize down range accuracy. Barrel contour will be decided prior to the first production run.

Production schedule: Marlin is scheduling the first production for these new rifles for Jan/Feb/ March........I don't remember the specific production release dates, but will note them tomorrow and post them this weekend.

This new caliber is going to be a long range heavy hitter for a 30 caliber lever gun.......One of the gun writers shot and killed an antelope at a measured 361 yards with this rifle.

If you want to see the cartridge itself,I suggest you log in to Hornady's web site to view it. I have the file on my computer, but it will take me too much time to convert it , reload it and post it......Sorry, I work on a computer most of the day, I DON'T WANT TO WORK MORE AT NIGHT....

I'm excited about the new 308 Marlin Express........If any of you have other questions, forward them to me, and I'll try to answer them quickly for you.

Good Shooting, good Hunting.....

Tomray
NRA LIFE
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o.k. since the marlin lever can go 47000 psi in its new 308 marlin express...

how about getting it to feed the jdj line of carts and keeping it under 47,000 psi???



or the 308? or the 338 federal? or the 358 win?

quote:

47,000 psi for new marlin lever!

Remember the thread a few months back that advocated the use of 60,000 PSI cartridges in the Marlin lever guns?

No, but I do remember seeing a photo on the net of a "compact" marlin lever.
It was compacted by collecting all the bits and putting them in a heap. Can't remember what the cause was. Maybe about 60,000 psi?

well if marlin says this new gun can do 47000 psi...well that means they are improving their guns strength and that is good no matter how you slice it.

either a 411-308 marlin express or 411 jdj in this gun will be great for a smaller lighter quick handeling woods gun.

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
well if marlin says this new gun can do 47000 psi...well that means they are improving their guns strength and that is good no matter how you slice it.

Boom Stick,
My take on this was different....it was that Marlin is allowing their lever gun to go to the public with much higher pressures rounds and not that they improved the strength.

Some folks have posted that they are shooting the 358 Winchester in this levergun.....

It seems to me that they're taking advantage of Hornady's pointed "soft" point and making a much longer range rifle with the same action...this is good for lever lovers like yourself. The Marlin has been under chambered for many years and now their taking advantage of it.

the guy says they are making the actions stronger through tighter tollerances and using v shaped threads instead of square threads...i think the 358 win in this is awesome and maybe the 411, 375-308 marlin express or 411 jdj!

quote:

the guy says they are making the actions stronger through tighter tollerances and using v shaped threads instead of square threads

I assume you're talking to the marketing department then......as this is not a statement by anyone in engineering!!

Hmmm, how does this round compare to the old 307 Win?

Win online data shows a 180 grain soft point (Super-X Power Point) at a MV of 2510 fps.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

the guy says they are making the actions stronger through tighter tollerances and using v shaped threads instead of square threads

I assume you're talking to the marketing department then......as this is not a statement by anyone in engineering!!

That's not necessarily true. First off, marlins have a tendency toward excess headspace. Tighten thatup and case failure is less likely. Thus their comfort level increases toward using higher pressure rounds. Second, not knwing off hand how deep they cut their square threads this is pure speculation but a change to a finer pitch "v" thread means more meat over the chamber. Same reason Savage went to a larger thread shank on their WSM chambered rifles.

so if you do do a 358 win, make sure it is chambered well and there should be no problems in the 47,000 psi range...

It seems much, much easier to buy a BLR in .308 Winchester.

quote:

Originally posted by CDH:
Hmmm, how does this round compare to the old 307 Win?

Win online data shows a 180 grain soft point (Super-X Power Point) at a MV of 2510 fps.

Exactly! Nothing new, just a different way to package it.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

the guy says they are making the actions stronger through tighter tollerances and using v shaped threads instead of square threads

I assume you're talking to the marketing department then......as this is not a statement by anyone in engineering!!

Was that meant to be humor? It's a true statement anyway!

There is no evidence that I've ever found that Marlin has excess headspaced chambers.